Is Wrath too easy, or are we just better?
by Michael Gray 
Mar 10th 2009 at 1:00PM
In the eternal question of whether Wrath of the Lich King is too easy, Our Girl Friday posits an answer that I've often wondered about myself. Is it really that WotLK is so gosh-darned easy, or could the issue actually be that maybe, just maybe, the players have gotten better?The wealth of knowledge about the nuts-and-bolts of theorycraft has never been more available. New players and old veterans alike have resources like WoW Insider, Wowhead, WoWwiki, or that juggernaut of theorycraft, Elitist Jerks. There are strategy videos, stategy manuals, and even a few strategy comics. The forums themselves have never been more informative, especially when you consider Ghostcrawler laying down wisdom all over the place. The information about how to play is out there for the taking.
And, c'mon. It's been about half a decade and near 12 million subscribers. Once you've done Nethekurse or Zereketh, you should know that you're not supposed to stand in pink, black, or red circles. Really, just don't stand in stuff. Is that really such a deep and meaningful skill that you have to relearn "Don't stand in stuff!" for Kel'Thuzad? So, if the Wrath raids aren't demanding a gear-based progression (meaning, it's all a gear check), then we should entertain the idea that we've gotten pretty good at not standing in stuff. That's certainly not the only raiding skill, but I'm using it as an indication that we're meeting the basic "skill" requirements.
Of course, even Ghostcrawler has acknowledged that Naxxramas is somewhat the new welfare epics. We know that Ulduar's going to be noticeably more "difficult." But until then, we could probably accept that the current accessibility of content owes some part to us getting better as players.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Tips, Tricks, Blizzard, Guides
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
ginka Mar 10th 2009 1:05PM
Players are better. Classes are better designed. More information is available about how to do what you do.
Ok, troll now.
Dan Mar 10th 2009 1:08PM
Ey mon, you totally be right about dat.
Kassu Mar 10th 2009 1:08PM
Gz on beating the "first" moneys to it.
Also, you are right.
Eversor Mar 10th 2009 1:45PM
You are right.
Kakistocracy Mar 10th 2009 1:54PM
I agree to a degree, though I've played with some awful people, and I mean bad enough that the adds on the way to the hunterman would have respawned before they ever got there if this were Karazhan, and they still managed to get some bosses down.
And the getting the pull right in the high king fight seems to require more practice than, say, the adds before Sarth.
Robert M Mar 10th 2009 2:18PM
You are absolutely right, but let's not forget that our "getting better" also has to do with things like DBM.
Think about how DBM changes the game.
1. A warlock ca now place a curse of doom on Curator so that it will damge at the right time of his evocation.
2. You get a giant sized raid warning that says "DONT FJUCKING MOVE RIGHT NOW" when you aren't supposed to move.
3. You get a giant sized raid warning that says "GET YOUR STUPID A$$ OUT OF THE INCOMING NOVA"
The game is easier because the tools we use to perfectit have become more refined.
Ever wondered what the game would be like with no grid, no dbm, no omen back before the built in threat meter?
VSUReaper Mar 10th 2009 2:38PM
@ Robert
Yeah, It would be hell.
As for the question of if its easy or not, the basic raid - no hard modes or achievements included - is uber easy. VOA is a joke, Naxx, while it has its moments, is relativly easy, and Maly just requires you to not stand in front of a big dragon.
TBC raids were nice b/c it required coordination and thought to do a fight. Mags required tanks to understand thier purpose in the fight if they were on adds duty (the channelers) and they had to swallo thier pride. Gruuls was the same way. HK fight required you to on the ball and ready to get in there and get it done. If someone screwed up, you had to have a plan B to recover. Gruul was fun in the fact that you had to make sure you were not hugging someone when shatter occured.
Now, the hardest fight is the same mechanic they have used in a TBC 5 man (as well as old Naxx, but alot of people didnt see that) and the only reason its hard is b.c so many people dont know thier right from thier left and how to run in a circle.
Hell, the PUG I was in last night did KT with one tank and only me healing on my disc priest (more or less - the second healer died in the first 5% to a iceblock and was out of position to be healed out of it) and we barely struggled on the fight. That means we were exceptionally well geared, knew our classes inside and out, or we were just lucky. But I think its more than that.
The game is easy, especially comparing it to some of the things that we used to raid not even 6 months ago. I appreciate an easy raid as much as the next guy, but heres hoping that Ulduar is a lil bit more challenging than standing next to a DK casting holy spells while I just heal through the minimal damage.
Osc Mar 10th 2009 2:48PM
I disagree with the premise that players are so much better and reference Oculus as my evidence.
Sure, you might say that Oculus is a bastardization and does not count since it isn't the player itself.
HOWEVER, the three drakes of Oculus exemplify the three tenants of grouping: Tank, Healer, and DPS. Furthermore, the encounters are nothing more than the same thing you'd see in any other instance but with the twist of using these drakes in some way (trash clearing in some cases, boss killing in others).
So if people cannot grasp a concept as boiled down as Oculus, are we really so much better ? With the most basic of toolsets, we see many fail.
So what's my hypothesis then? Same as some others have suggested: It's the talents and abilities we've gained over time, making our classes much stronger than before (thus also reducing the gap of bad and good players much more than before*). Add to that more generalized gear sets (with reduced need for pickiness) and there's your answer.
I'd like to say players are so much better...but I don't buy it.
Asgaroth Mar 10th 2009 2:53PM
We are definitely better. If you've noticed anything, you'd realize that the boss fight strategies in the newer expansions are very similar to older bosses. Even strategies from regular dungeons have been repeated in raids. We are use to Blizzard's methodologies by now. So it should be no surprise that we easily get through content.
Max Mar 10th 2009 3:26PM
We aren't getting better, Blizz is just re-using content over and over. Also, we have better tools. And remember the great 3.1 "boss nerf"? half of that was just the classes getting better - the same classes that we have in wrath.
But as to players getting better? Not a chance. I've seen too many people die to the Heigan dance and Thad charges to buy into that one.
darian Mar 10th 2009 3:31PM
The Occulus is a good point but it is also bad logic. Using the drakes to maximum effect is a test of player adaptability. That is a contributing factor to whether we are better, but it isn't the *only* factor.
Adaptability of that nature is actually a "tertiary stat" of sorts in terms of playing the game. It's absurdly helpful/powerful when you're learning a new encounter or a new mechanic and is also very helpful when circumstances deviate from the norm. The other 90% of the time it has little or no use.
Eventually everyone who puts in a modicum of effort will get the drake fight down. It'll just take some people more time than others.
Bod Mar 10th 2009 4:19PM
Didn't we have this whole discussion already?
http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/11/19/is-wrath-too-easy?icid=sphere_blogsmith_inpage_wowinsider
Braundo Mar 10th 2009 4:37PM
@RobertM:
"Ever wondered what the game would be like with no grid, no dbm, no omen back before the built in threat meter?"
Yeah, we called it Vanilla WoW.
Osc Mar 10th 2009 4:41PM
I view adaptation as an excuse in that case though. Not to say it isn't relevant, but if you can't get the job done because the interface is too different...well, that's YOUR fault.
Why? Because like I said: The three drakes are a most basic toolset breakdown of the three grouping categories. It's like handing a hunter a bow and limiting them to auto shot and aimed shot. You're breaking down the mechanic to the most general operation and a specialty ability (that has pluses and minues to use at any given time). Sure, that takes a bit of time to get used to...but it shouldn't be so long that it disrupts your ability to handle the instance in question.
This is why I don't view players as being so much better. When things are broken down to the baseline, they collapse and find difficulty with the easiest of tasks. Meanwhile, when you give them five or more techniques for being serious damage dealers...suddenly they're "so good" with all these additional tools to supplement their job.
BTW, the argument that we've adjusted to reused content: Hate to say it, but most of the reused content in WoW has been stripped of the more difficult elements and/or been marginalized by more stamina. Loatheb is a completely different fight now than it was in classic when you needed to chug Shadow Protection Pots just to survive long enough. That example extends to many other instances and bosses where the most difficult elements have been reduced heavily or completely removed in addition to us having a larger safety net of health.
rick gregory Mar 10th 2009 5:46PM
AND....
mechanics aren't changing. Yep, once you learn not to stand in crap on the floor, the other "boss puts crap on the floor" encounters are easy. So come up with new mechanics! The orbs in OK, Sarth and UK are somewhat like that.
However, any mechanic will be learned. That's not the only thing that makes Wrath easy. It's that there's no need for more than the cor abilities of your class. CC? Pfftt... no once CCs anymore. Mages sheeped in TBC, Rogues sapped, hunters trapped. Now? No one cares about that because it's not needed. Tanks can all generate great AoE threat. DPS all has an AoE attack. Healers can keep any reasonable tank up if they're just decent. You simply don't need secondary class skills anymore. It's mostly "go in, grab stuff, AoE, rinse repeat."
bundee Mar 10th 2009 5:59PM
@ Osc
Why don't you start off with all your abilities at level 1? Why did it originally take 60 levels to get to your full potential? Because it takes time to get used to the gameplay. Oculus completely negates all this experience by giving you a completely different set of abilities to defeat a boss not seen anywhere else.
Its like studying for a math test all night long to show up and get tested on chemistry.
jbodar Mar 10th 2009 7:21PM
@bundee
But there's only a handful of skills to learn and they are easily adapted from what you already know about DPS , healing, or tanking. I admit, the first time I used the healing drake, I was a bit lost, but once I realized, I just had to balance draining the mobs with healing my tank, it was pretty easy.
Personally, I haven't set foot in Oculus since because it's soooo sloooow, with the vehicle mount mechanics and the fly here, dismount, mount back up, repeat ad nauseum, people getting lost and aggroing mobs, etc. It was just torturously slow and not really fun. Nothing to do with drake skills though.
ggblizz Mar 11th 2009 2:33AM
@ginka
i don't agree about the "players getting better" idea.
i don't think the wow population as a whole got better. it is just an illusion. a little egoistic one. I think you didn't see the difficulty of the originial naxxramas. The new one is a joke compared to the older one. But i think it s a step in the right direction. The content should be more and more accessible. (and it should be even more accessible imho.) So when the game becomes easier it is expected that more people would beat it. it is not rocket science.
Preston Mar 11th 2009 3:17PM
It's not that players are better. It's that dungeons don't require CC or other forethought. When I leveled my resto shaman during the initial Northrend rush, I never once saw a mage cast Sheep. Just six months earlier when I leveled the same shaman through Outland, CC was necessary for several of the dungeons.
Jason Mar 10th 2009 1:06PM
I have to agree with the "us being better" aspect. I never really thought about it until I saw this post.
If you think about it, we as WoW players have come to expect Blizzard to use certain mechanics, and we relate them to other fights we have done (just think about Magisters' Terrace!). Also, like you said, the resources available are incredible nowadays. I remember when I started playing I had no idea that there were sites like this (and it was 2004, so there probably weren't many).
While the interface has become more user-friendly and we can do things like mark mobs, get in-game warnings about bosses, etc., the players have become much more adamant about figuring out the boss fights and downing them as soon as possible.